Priming device for pumps.



No. 629,002. Patented July I8, I899. E. M. CORYELL. PRIMING DEVICE FOR PUMPS.

(Application filed Apr. 21, 1899.)

4 (No Model.)

Fries.

EDIVIN M. CORYELL, OF. NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO JULIA CAMERON,

OF SAME PLACE.

PRllVllNG DEVICE FOR' PUMPS SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 629,002, dated July 18, 1899. Application filed April 21, 1899. serial No. 713,943. (No model.)

T0 and whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EDWIN M. CORYELL, a citizen of the United States, and a resident-of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Priming Device for Pumps, which is fully set forth in the following specification.

My invention relates to improvements in priming devices for pumps, especially steampumps employed in mining and similar operations. In all mining operations, and, in fact, whenever a steam-pump is working intermittently, the suction must fail with more or less frequency-that is to say, when at any particular time the pump has disposed of the accumulation of water the suction-pipe will run dry and become filled with air. \Vhen next the'pump is started, owing to the elastic property of air in the suction-pipe it is often difficult and sometimes impossible to make the pump take suction or bring the water within the reach of the valves. In such cases it be comes necessary to prime the pumpthat is, by some device to introduce temporarily a supply of water from above into the lower chamber of the valve-box or into the suctionpipe. connection, controlled by a disk valve, from the column or discharge-pipe to the suction below. The disadvantages of this method are twofold. When the valve is opened, the whole weight of the column of water in the dischargepipe is precipitated into the suction-pipe, which being quite costly and designed to resist collapse, but not internal pressure, is often ruptured by the pressure of, perhaps, several hundred pounds per square inch. Furthermore, it is found that the silt and sediment from the column will often settle behind the valve and lock it, so that it is impossible to open it and prime the pump at all. Vexatious and even disastrous delays are the natural result. An attempt has been made to avoid these defects by connecting the upper and lower valve-chambers by pipe connections and valves projecting from the outside of the chest cover or bonnet and also by screwing the priming-valves into the bonnet from which they project; but this involves the very thing of all others to be avoided in a This has been done by forming a direct sinking pump-win, the addition of fragile and vulnerable parts. here a pump weighing several tons is lowered hundreds of feet into a mine-shaft, often striking heavily in its descent against the rock wall, or where blasts are being exploded all about the pump,

such parts as these valves are liable to be twisted or snapped off. It has been sought to lessen this danger by removing the handle or wheel and protecting the remaining parts with a covering; but this makes a cumbersome as well as a very inconvenient arrangement, as it then becomes necessary for the attendant to carry a wrench or handle.

My invention entirely does away with the above and all otherdefects. It accomplishes the end of connecting the upper and lower chambers of the valve-chest without bringing strain upon the suction, and does this by means of ports in the iron cover or bonnet itself, so that all extra pieces and elbows are simply done away with, while of the valve itself (being placed on top) no part projects beyond the face of the bonnet. It is out of the way and is entirely unexposed to injury from any cause that experience has suggested.

In the drawings, Figure I is a vertical section through the box or chest containing the water-valves. Fig. II is a front elevation of the same, showing the bonnet; and Fig. III is a plan, partly broken away.

Reference-numeral 1 is a portion of the piston-chamber or plunger-sleeve, to which is attached the valve-chest 2, having upper and lower chambers 3 and 4 and provided with two upper and two lower valves. The bonnet or cover 5 is secured to the face of the valvechest. The construction so far described is of the type we'll known as the Cameron Patent Vertical Mining-Pump, though my invention may be applied to other types as well. On bonnet 5 are enlargements 6 6 to provide forthe recesses 7, each of which connects with chamber 3 by port 8 and with chamber 4 by port 9, the ports lying wholly within the thickness of bonnet 5. Valve-seat l0 and bushing 11 are inserted as shown. In bushing 11 turns the screw-threaded stem of valve 12, operated by means of hand-wheel13.

Ports 8 and 9 open near the top of their respect-ive chambers 3 and 4, both because this arrangement is more convenient and because it prevents sediment, &c., from passing into port 8 and choking the passage-Way. Removing bonnet 5 gives access not only to the valvechest and water-valves, but to the primingpassage-Ways as well. It must be noticed that wheels 13 and all other parts of my priming device are in an unexposed position, being located entirely inside of the vertical lines bounding the Valve-chest and its bonnet. The mode of operation of my device is obvious and need not be described.

I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself to the precise construction described or shown, since any construction that permits the suction to be primed from above without admitting the whole weight of the column of water in the discharge-pipe and that is located within the vertical lines of the valve-chest is within the spirit of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, I claim 1. The combination with a valve-box containing upper and lower chambers, of a cover or bonnet therefor having within the thickness of its own walls an entirely-closed passage-Way having only two outlets-one cornlnunicating with the upper chamber and the other with the lower chamber, and a valve controlling said passage-Way, substantially as described.

2. .In combination with a valve-box containing upper and lower chambers, the cover or bonnet therefor, and the valve-controlled passage-way communicating from the upper portion of the upper chamber to the lower chamber, said passage-way being located entirely within the thickness of the said bonnet, and opening only into said chambers, substantially as described.

3. In combination with a valve-box containing upper and lower chambers, open at one side, a cover or bonnet for closing said open side of the chambers, an enlargement on said bonnet, a recess within said enlarge ment, ports or passages leading from said recess, one to the upper chamber and another to the lower chamber, said passages or ports being located entirely within the thickness of the wall of said bonnet and opening only into said chambers and recess, and a valve in the recess for opening and closing communication between the chambers.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

EDWIN M. CORYELL. lVitnesses:

0. A. L. MASSIE, W. Scorr CAMERON. 

